


A scary Face

by Pikuna



Series: Too long to be Drabbles, too short for multiple Chapters [1]
Category: Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: Bonding, F/M, Halloween, Pumpkin - Freeform, Samhain, carving, romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 05:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5117609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pikuna/pseuds/Pikuna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little story about a more traditional way to celebrate Halloween.<br/>Marianne shows Bog the joy of carving a Pumpkin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A scary Face

"Would ye explain to me, why we are doing this again, tough girl?" Bog asked and poked unmotivated with the knife in his hand, which was far too small for them, against the pumpkin that stood before him. The orange fruit was just a bit taller than him and very broad and it really took a while to cut out a piece of it, with this small knife.  
  
"Because...it's fun....aaand a tradition." Marianne explained, too concentrated to draw something on her pumpkin with blueberry-juice, to go more into details. Her pumpkin was a bit smaller than Bog's and also more thin.  
  
The Goblin snorted, "Thought ye weren't so fond of traditions. Besides...," he pricked the knife in the pumpkin, so it got stuck, "A don't see how this is supposed to be fun."  
  
"Well, if you wouldn't be such an old and grumpy Goblin...," he snarled, when Marianne called him old and had sneering expression on her face, "you would see the fun. You can be creative, make little contest over the best Pumpkin-face and also let out some steam. After all it's not easy to carve into these things." She continued to draw. "And that's why I can tolerate this tradition."  
  
"A prefer a spar over that." Bog commented her last part of the list she said. He was neither very creative nor very skilled in handicraft work, such things weren't needed when you are the King of the Dark Forest.  
  
If he had known in the first place, what Marianne had planned for today, he would have stayed in his castle to supervise the preparation for the coming winter. Even when autumn just had started, Bog prefered to be finish with this task very early. The Goblins always spent the winter in underground tunnels and cavern, therefore they needed enough food and heating fuel to survive it. As far as he knew, elfs did the same and even some fairies would acompany them, while most of then would emigrate to the southern region of their land. At first Bog had feared that Marianne would also have to emigrate and he hadn't knewn if he would survive at least three months without her. But luck was on their side and Marianne was allowed to stay in the Dark Forest for the winter, as long as she promised to not leave the underground before the first flowers start to sprout.  
  
"Oh Bog, come on. Can't you at least _try_ to enjoy this?" Marianne begged the goblin and looked with her big, amber eyes at him.  
  
Bog gritted his teeth at that sight. She knew that it was hard for him to resist her begging eyes. Just like back then, when he promised the Sugar Plum Fairy to release her, because of this pleading look.  
  
"But Marianne. A really don't understand the...the purpose of carving faces into pumpkins." It was his last try to escape this boring undertaking.  
  
Marianne bit her bottom lip. Okay, it was understandable that he wouldn't be so thrilled about this tradition, if he didn't know the history behind it. She really should have talked more about it, than just dragging him into this.  
  
"The purpose is, that they shall scare away evil spirits." To Marianne's joy she saw how curiosity forming on the ruler's face by this short statement, so she continued, "It's actually a tradition from elf farmers and is many hundred years old. They believed that evil spirits would invade their fields and stocks at this time of the year to take the food for themselves. To protect their crop and beloved ones, the farmers started to carve scary faces into different kinds of fruits and decided that pumpkins would suit the best for it. Since then the evil spirits never took any of their food again. Later we fairies adopted this tradition and the Samhain festival was born. You know us...always adding big festivals and balls to it." she ended her explanation with a dry laughter.  
  
Bog agreed with an amused nod to her last statement. But he had to admit, that this story was indeed interesting and he rubbed his chin pensively. "So, ye do this to protect yer crop? Does this really work?"  
  
Marianne could only give a shrug. "Well, as I said, nothing was stolen since then. And no one would take the risk to see, if something really would go missing, when we skip this tradition."  
  
"Understandable."  
  
"Besides, it's a really nice activity you can do together with your beloved ones. Normaly I would be with Dawn and Sunny in the elf village to carve my pumpkin, but I _really_ wanted to share this tradition with you. And I know you don't feel comfortable to be in one of them. So I asked some farmers to put these two pumpkins a bit offside the village."  
  
Those words warmed Bog's heart. He had already wondered why Marianne was so far away from the village when he arrived, but didn't care so far for it. Oh, he was such a bloody fool. There she sacrificed the time she could have been with her sister before the winter, but instead spent it with him, to show and share this tradition with him, making sure he was comfortable and he was just complaining all the time.  
  
"Oh, Marianne...," Bog embraced her shoulders softly and gave her a warm smile. He wanted to say, that she really hadn't need to do this, but when he looked in her eyes, he said instead, "Thank ye. And A'm very sorry that A wasn't so...zealous about this at the start."  
  
"It's fine, I really should have told you more about it." Marianne said smiling and then looked hopefull at him, "So, you gonna try to do it again and enjoy it?" She nodded at the knife in the pumpkin.  
  
"Well,..." Bog cleared his throat, " A will _try_ it. Ah just hope A can carve something similar to a face into this thing."  
  
"Pff, don't worry about that. My first pumpkin looked like I just had stabbed randomly it with my knife." Marianne said chuckling in wich Bog joined her.  
  
Before Bog could let her go, Marianne wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. "Thanks Bog. I really appreciate that."  
  
The face of the Bog King sligthly flushed at this surpise hug, but soon he returned it. "Don't mention it tough girl." He whispered in her hair.

 

* * *

  
After they enjoyed their hug for a few more minutes, the two of them went back to their pumpkins. While Marianne eagerly continued her drawing, Bog just stood in front of his fruit, the knife again in his hand, but arms crossed. He really wasn't a creative fellow and so he just couldn't come up with something to carve. Marianne seemed to be amused by this, because every now and then she looked in his direction. Bog just groaned quietly, but was also curious why she didn't carved anything yet and only painted on the pumpkin. He couldn't see what it was, because she stood almost behind her pumpkin, only her wings were visible sometimes.  
  
"Ye know, A thought ye should carve, not paint something on the pumpkin." Bog finally spoke out his mind.  
  
"It's just a preparation. I want to try myself on a more complex motive and for that I need a pattern, so I knew where to carve in."  
  
"So, ye already have something in mind?"  
  
"Exactly." Marianne looked mischievously at Bog, who just raise a brow in wonder. "But it seems that you have problems to coming up with a motive?"  
  
He just sighed and nodded.  
  
Marianne tapped her finger musingly against her chin. "How about your mother?" she finally suggested.  
  
" _What_?" Incredulity and confusing formed on the King's face.  
  
She had to bit her lip, so that she didn't laugh at that sight. "Well, one point of the pumpkin-faces is to be scary for evil spirits. And when Griselda can scare away the _almighty and evil Bog King_ ," Bog rolled his eyes at her theatrical way to say those words, "why shouldn't some little spirits also run away?"  
  
He snorted, but it was an amused one. Bog wouldn't say it out loud, but Marianne got a point there. Whenever his mother had this...grin on her face, he knew that she wanted something from him, something he really didn't want to discuss, not even hear it, so he often fled from her before she could say something.  
  
Bog sighed and shrugged. "Well, at least it's something I'm familiar with."  
  
Happy, that he agreed with her suggestion, Marianne hummed and continued her painting.  
  
.......  
  
"Ye won't tell me what's yer motive, or?"  
  
"Nope, it's a surprise!"

 

* * *

  
At first, Bog struggled a lot to carve with the little knife he got from Marianne. In the end he had threw it away and used his claws, they were more precisely to work with for him. He was so into his work, that he didn't noticed how Marianne peeked around her pumpkin, taking him into target and then splattered him with some of her blueberry-juice on his face and shoulder plates. He flinched at the sudden contact with the juice, but then snarled at the fairy, who needed to lean against her pumpkin, so she wouldn't tumble down from laughter. Because he had nothing to throw back at her, Bog started to run towards her. When Marianne realized this, she shrieked and tried to escape him, by flying around the pumpkins. After a short chase, Bog managed it to catch his fairy princess, not sure if it was his skill or if she let him catch her. Nevertheless, Marianne got her punischment of tickles and kisses from the King, which she suffered happily with laughter.  
  
They fooled around a bit longer, until they went back to their work, now Marianne also started to carve her pumpkin. Bog realized, that he could have looked at Marianne's motive, while was chasing her. But on the other hand he had been too busy to give that a thought.  
  
The sun started to set down, when Bog was finally finished with his pumpkin. He stepped away from it, to examine his work.  
  
.......  
  
Well, at least it didn't look like he had just stabbed the pumpkin randomly and with some imagination, the grinning face of his mother was recognizable. He was sure, she would have killed him for this failed portrait of her, but as long as she wouldn't see it, he was in no danger.  
  
It didn't seem that Marianne was finished yet, she still was carving the pumpkin very eagerly and her handling with the knife looked far more elegant then his poor attempts.  
  
He was about to speak, when a rustling catched his attention. He looked to the taller parts of the grass that was surrounding them and two big bottles, each carried by three elfs, appeared, which were filled with fireflies and they headed in their direction. Bog moved behind his pumpkin, so the elves wouldn't see him. The fairies maybe got somewhat used to him, but the elves were still terrified by his size, so he didn't wanted to scare them or otherwhise they would let the bottles drop and they would get broken. Besides, he really didn't want to be seen doing an activity like...this.  
  
"Princess Marianne! We've got the fireflies for you. It will be dark soon, so you will need them." one of the elves said, when they put the bottles down.  
  
The princess waved at them grateful. "That's really nice from you guys. Sorry that I caused you troubles like this."  
  
But the elves just waved with their hands and smiled. "Oh, please your majesty. It was really not that much of a trouble."  
  
They bid farewell and when the two of them were alone again, Bog stepped closer to Marianne. "What are the fireflies for?" he asked curiously.  
  
"We use them to light up the pumpkins. They need to be visible in the dark, after all." Marianne explained smiling.  
  
"Interesting." Bog murmured and she laughed. "Believe me, when it becomes dark it will look amazing."  
  
Marianne instructed him to put the bottles into the inside of their pumpkins, while she was still carving the last pieces of her motive out. Luckily, the bottles weren't that heavy for him and when he was finished, Marianne let her knife drop and looked pleased.  
  
"Ye took yer sweet time, tough girl." Bog teased her with a chuckle and got a smirk as answer, "Well, art needs it's time."  
  
To his surprise Marianne became slightly nervous. He saw it, because she started to fumble with her fingers and bit nervously her lips, while starring at her pumpkin.  
  
He raised a bow in confusion, but cleared his throat. "Well, don't ye wanna show me yer masterpiece?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, of course...sure." she stuttered and took a step back, so he could examined her carving:  
  
Still confused, Bog wanted to come closer, but then Marianne hold up her arms to stop him. "Wait!"  
  
He frowned, his confusion becoming bigger, but stopped and waited for her to explain herself.  
  
Marianne, still very nervous, rubbed her right arm. "Remember how I told you, that one point of the pumpkins is to scare away the evil spirits?" He just nodded. "Well, they are supposed to look scary, but...also to be protective, right?" He nodded again. What the bloddy hell was her point? "Very good. So....when you look at my pumpkin, please remember more the protective point, then the scary one, okay?" she pleaded and looked with an unsecure smile at him.  
  
Bog nodded, but the confusion was still big in his face. Why the heck was she so nervous to show him her pumpkin? "If ye want, Marianne. But A really don't get why ye so-" While he spoke Bog went closer to the pumpkin, but stopped in his movement and talking when he saw the motive.  
  
It was good, that the sun was almost down and it had become darker. The light of the fireflies made the outline of the carving much more visible. It was far from perfect, but Bog could clearly recognize his snarling face on the pumpkin. At first he didn't know how to feel about that. Was he still that scary for her, that she thought he was a good motive to frighten evil spirits away? But didn't she have told him, that he should see this pumpkin from the protective point, than rather from the scary one?  
  
Bog didn't quite understand what she ment with that, so he looked back to Marianne. "Why...?" he asked, but regretted it instantly, when he saw Marianne's guilty expression. Did she think he was offended?  
  
"Ah, well.... you have to admit that you look somehow...scary. I mean, even your goblins are scared by you or? I don't mean that you only just look scary or that it is a bad thing. I-i thought you would be a good motive, because...yeah, maybe of the look, b-but" Marianne noticed that she babbled too much, so she took a deep breath before she continued, "But as I said before, I choose you as a motive, because of the protective point, not for the scary one. After all you are a symbol of protection for your people and...for me." she finished and got very quiet at the end, not daring to look up to him. "I'm very sorry Bog, that was a stupid idea." she sighed frustrated at herself.  
  
Bog remained silent and looked back at the pumpkin. He let her words sank, before a happy warmth filled his inside. So she didn't saw a scary beast in him, but a protector. His lips curled to a smile. "A like it."  
  
Marianne looked up in surpise. "W-what?"  
  
Now it was Bog, who got nervous. He rubbed his neck and tried to find the right words to assure her, that he was really touched. "A really like yer idea behind this, it really honors me and...it makes me happy that ye think so about me."  
  
Because Marianne still looked a bit unsure, Bog went closer to her, wraped one arm around her and stroke with the other hand over her cheek to soothe her. "Don't ye worry Marianne. A'm really not mad or anything like that. A was just stunned by yer wonderful work here. A think A never looked better." he said with an amused undertone in his voice.  
  
It had the desired effect, because Marianne uttered a brief laugh and punched softly against his chest. "Flaterrer." she murmured, but smiled happily.  
  
He snorted amused at the punch. "Just for ye, princess." he said teasingly and got another punch for that.  
  
Marianne sighed reliefed and nuzzled herself against his hand with a soft purr. She was just glad that Bog seemed to really like her idea with him being the motive. Originally she had planned to carve a random goblin face into her pumpkin, like she did almost every year. But then she had thought, why not doing something specialy for him, maybe he would like it. She even had practise her carving skills for it and was actually very proud of her work.  
  
Bog loved it to watch Marianne, how much she enjoyed the touch of his claw-like hands against her soft and smooth skin. He adored her so much, for being so caring towards him, for loving him, for...  
  
"You know, your first try on carving look not half bad as I thought it would be." she said out of the blue with a teasing undertone.  
  
" _Marianne_!" Bog groaned and rolled his eyes, displeased about the destroyed mood and the fact that she still had catched his poor attempt of carving.  
  
He was about to let go of her, but Marianne quieckly wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged him down to her, so she could give him an apologetic kiss. At first, Bog didn't want to respond to it and snarled angry into the kiss, but her soft stroking of his neck let him become weak and he kissed her back.

 

* * *

  
They sat down into the grass and talked a bit about their works. Marianne tried to explain him some tricks for better carving techniques with the knife, but was also very interested in how he could work so precisely with his claws. The sun was now gone completly and the moon illuminate their surrounding. But Bog also noticed orange-yellow lights from all around, who lightened the night, perhaps it were the pumpkins from other people. When Marianne saw how he looked around, she stood up. Slightly confused, he looked up to her, but she just gave him a smile and then went into the air.  
  
Did she want to play tag? Well, he didn't object, so he also started of into the air, to follow her. But she didn't flew away from him, as he expected it. Instead she waited for him in midair to catch up. Before he was able to ask, she nodded down into the direction of the elf village that was close to them. Bog followed the lead and his eyes grew wider, when she looked down on the ocean of orange-yellow lights, which were the only light source on the ground. They all had different shapes and sizes, some where even bigger than most of the houses. When he looked further away he saw even more lights in the distance. It almost looked like the nightsky and the pumpkins were the stars.  
  
"Beautiful, isn't it?" he heared Marianne saying, her voice not much more then a breath.  
  
"Aye," Bog agreed, before he looked back to her." Really beautiful."

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a quick story for Halloween, BUT as always it got longer then I wanted. |D  
> It's very late right now, so I really hope that I didn't get too lazy at the end. It was actually my first attempt to write in such a romantic manner, hopefully it isn't too cheesy for Marianne and Bog.  
> (Also hope that I use the term fruit for the pumpkins is okay. As far as I know there can be smaller examples of them, so they could still be suitable for the size of the character from Strange Magic.)
> 
> With that, I wish everyone a happy Halloween!


End file.
